I did a bundle too- both albums and a t-shirt. It made the obscene overseas shipping cost a little more worthwhile.

I'd imagine the two reissues will be available in the US as imports eventually, much like 'mbv' was, but I also remember that once 'mbv' was available in record stores here it was just as expensive as the preorder was with the shipping cost. My guess is that these reissues will cost about $35 a piece once they're available as imports (which will probably take quite a while). When you look at it that way the preorder's not such a bad deal, especially if you want both albums.

davedecay wrote:Since the original LP & CD was mastered to DAT, what does a new vinyl LP sourced from that accomplish? Perhaps a different mix specifically for vinyl?

I saw two copies of Loveless at the music shop today, $3 each. I suspect they'll sound a lot like these new LPs.

This is coming from a big fan of vinyl, and a fan of Loveless (I have the US promo edition CD).

There are loads of bootleg copies of Loveless about that sell for buttons but sound really flat and lifelesss. The original UK Creation pressings were ok but are much, much more expensive. It will be interesting what this reissued vinyl sounds like.

Loveless is one of the few albums I own that I prefer to listen to on CD. This is not because the CD sounds better but largely because the music really benefits from not being interrupted by having to turn the record over.

[quote="davedecay"]Since the original LP & CD was mastered to DAT, what does a new vinyl LP sourced from that accomplish? Perhaps a different mix specifically for vinyl?

I saw two copies of Loveless at the music shop today, $3 each. I suspect they'll sound a lot like these new LPs.

This is coming from a big fan of vinyl, and a fan of Loveless (I have the US promo edition CD).[/quote

The promotional material claims these issues are sourced from analogue tapes, hope they sound better than the mbv vinyl, more than acceptable surface noise on mine which is why its rarely played. Olan`s gripe about turning vinyl over is a fair point, but maybe mbv would have benefited from being pressed on two discs instead. The two best sounding albums I`ve gotten this yr have both been on two discs, JAMC and War On Drugs, Quick check of Loveless an at almost 50 mins would a two disc version be better?

I thought it was a pretty interesting read, although it does strike me as pretty weird that he felt it necessary to completely eliminate computers from the remastering process when some of the work on the original album was done in the digital realm. Still, I will be buying the reissues for sure.

TheWarmth wrote:I thought it was a pretty interesting read, although it does strike me as pretty weird that he felt it necessary to completely eliminate computers from the remastering process when some of the work on the original album was done in the digital realm. Still, I will be buying the reissues for sure.

I agree - I really struggle to get my head around the point of what was obviously such a laborious process?

Presumably there would be digital processing involved in any raw tracks using common FX, but then re-recording (or remixing) that would unnecessarily change the end product.

I'm not entirely convinced about his claims of inventing new ways of splicing. Especially considering Pure Phase had to be spliced sometimes up into 4 bar segments, to achieve correct time alignment / phase coherence - without any special techniques I've read about.

Far be it from me to dictate another artist's working practices, but I think his time might be more productively spent making the *next* album.

No one ever says "Robert Mueller - that guy just shoots from the hip!"No one ever says "Robert Mueller - what an erratic fellow!"That is a contained man! He's the human equivalent of those Japanese watermelons. Jon Lovett

mojo filters wrote:I'm not entirely convinced about his claims of inventing new ways of splicing. Especially considering Pure Phase had to be spliced sometimes up into 4 bar segments, to achieve correct time alignment / phase coherence - without any special techniques I've read about.

Splicing into 4-bar segments would be a fairly straightforward (if laborious) task - I think Shields was talking about introducing crossfades into very short pieces of music, which may well have been impossible to do using standard cuts, as the fade may have required more tape than was available.

So I can see how new or improvised splicing methods may have been necessary (although I'm in agreement that I'd rather he spent the time on the new album).

I see what you mean, like basically because these were crossfades between tracks they were short - so trying to splice too many times in a short period, you'd potentially end up splicing into a splice using a normal block.

In that case I'll reappraise my applause for his ingenuity, but much as I love a good crossfade to keep the vibe of an album flowing, this still seems insanely laborious.

Ironically most folks will best be able to appreciate all this work at a thoroughly digital 192kHz high resolution bit rate!

No one ever says "Robert Mueller - that guy just shoots from the hip!"No one ever says "Robert Mueller - what an erratic fellow!"That is a contained man! He's the human equivalent of those Japanese watermelons. Jon Lovett

I think Loveless is a better LP, but has aged poorly due to the very dated drum machine patterns and the absence of Colm Ó Cíosóig on drums. Isn't Anything is somewhat timeless, but I don't enjoy it as much. I listen to the pre-Loveless e.p.s much more than anything else by MBV these days.

It is kind of a shame that Colm isn't more evident on Loveless (wasn't he ill or something for much of the recording?)- apparently the drums on there are still his- just sampled and sequenced.I'm going to disagree and say that Isn't Anything is more dated. that one sounds a bit more like a slightly grungy indie rock band to me (albeit a rather weird sounding one) and it's kind of a stepping stone to Loveless in my opinion.the drum patterns on Loveless are of the time, but I think they stand up well. it's not quite as bad as every indie band of the time slapping on the 'baggy drum beat'

I'm not really a MBV acolyte or anything, but I think that the peaks of Loveless are amazing and a rare example of somebody actually doing something genuinely new with rock music.

As much as I love - and I mean LOVE Loveless, and to a lesser degree Isn't Anything: having heard bits of the former around the same time as the incredible 'MBV Arkestra' mix of the Scream's 'If They Move - Kill 'Em' (I wore out several boom-boxes due to the evil and overpowering drums) means my sensibilities towards these two albums are somewhat skewed by time and circumstance.

For me the best thing that My Bloody Valentine have ever done is M B V: like most of the best music I've ever enjoyed it took some time to work on me - initially I remember playing it for the first time in what was to be my marital home - and feeling ill simply due to the woozy near-mono mix and disorientating FX... and the cheap paint fumes whilst decorating no doubt.

However time and listening and time again since has revealed to me that that album is truly something else - not least for the fact that the mastering of the album is one of the most dynamic for many years. If you turn M B V up loud there is no distortion other than what was intended - and it still absolutely kills. At 'normal' volume some of it almost feels like ambient music. At loudest volume your system can manage it sound incredible and immersive and overwhelmingly potent (sounds great in the car).

If only the last two tracks from M B V - the stunning 'nothing is' and 'wonder 2' had been released as a standalone 7" (or 12") single when they were recorded (possibly the late 90s?) - for me that would have been one of the wildest and most heavily psychedelic singles ever released.

Did he really say "vinyls"?

I've found Kevin Shields talking about the actual aural science of recorded and live sound over the years to be endlessly fascinating. However I won't be getting these reissues until I have a vinyls based playback system worth hearing this stuff on...

I'm excited for both of them- I think both could benefit from a more analog-faithful approach. I'm expecting it to be pretty minor given the amount of time that's been dedicated to this endeavor, but I'm optimistic. I've noticed a pretty big difference between listening to 'Isn't Anything' on vinyl vs. the CD. The remaster was a marked improvement as well, so it seems that this might continue the trend. I've always thought 'loveless' would sound better with a bit more warmth (which I thought was true of the remaster made from the analog tapes).

I gave my 'm b v' LP a spin tonight and it sounded better that I remembered. When I listen to it I'm usually on the go (listening to it on my phone) and it seems to be mastered at a quiet level. Then I crank it and am delighted by how meaty and full the mix is, a lot of rumbling low end anchoring things. Plus the drums sound great even though they're buried in the mix. I'm mostly hoping some of what I love about 'm b v' is translated to these vinyl reissues since the 'm b v' vinyl was an all analog master. When I think of it in those terms I'm excited about it.

I should also mention I'm really biased- mbv are my favorite band. If nothing else I'm hoping they start playing some more shows soon and I'm allowing myself to hope that they might release something new soon (whenever 'soon' is).

The MBV albums are definitely an anomaly in today's music world when it comes to how they've been mastered. Instead of compressing it to hell to give it an immediate impact, they are mastered pretty quiet. As others have said, if you have them on a low volume they almost become background music, and I find that my ears are straining to pick up what's going on and it's almost annoying. Crank them up however and they sound how they should.

There's a couple of limp tracks on the 'm b v' album but I'd agree that the final tracks (and I'd extend this to the final third of the record) are pretty damn fine. Combining drum n bass and shoegaze sounds like a grotesque nightmare in theory, but Kevin manages to pull it off in his own unique MBV way! I love how it's actually the guitars that are providing a lot of the 'beats' and sometimes you are not sure if you are hearing drums or processed guitars. it's pretty twisted and psychedelic in it's own inimitable way!When I saw them live on that tour, the way to describe that track is 'messy'... in the best way possible!

Kevin Shields wrote:The MBV album that we did in 2013 feels more meandery and not as concise. This one is like if somebody took that and dropped some acid on it or created a dimensional clash or something. It's more all over the place

Kevin Shields wrote:The MBV album that we did in 2013 feels more meandery and not as concise. This one is like if somebody took that and dropped some acid on it or created a dimensional clash or something. It's more all over the place

I'm really excited about these reissues. I guess in a way should they even be classed as reissues as it sounds like the process to create them was a little more extreme than the standard albums released with the tag.

The fact he almost bankrupted himself on the process to make this happen is quite incredible. I think its a testament to the man and how much he values his art. There really can't be many artists who would risk everything in the pursuit of creating something like this purely because he wanted to do it.

I was lucky enough to speak to Kevin in 2014 during the making of the book I've been working on and he was talking about the analogue releases then. Back when these albums came out the way albums were mastered was that they underwent the same process that they used to master sound on videos. So, you can understand his frustration with creating something as amazing as Loveless and then it being degraded during the mastering. Especially given how much of a perfectionist he is.

FYI: My buddy in Cleveland just tried to order 4 LPs from the site, two of each album, and the shipping is coming up as $85. I checked my receipt and I was only charged $21.74. I was curious, so I went to the site, put the records in my cart and sure enough ... $85 shipping. So, it appears they have dramatically increased the price of shipping. Hope you guys got your orders in before that happened.

I'm still waiting for mine. It's encouraging that people have started to get them, though (i.e.- the mere fact that they exist and are being shipped out at all is good). A kind soul on discogs posted this helpful link that can be used to track your shipment-

“When we were doing ‘Feed Me With Your Kiss’, I made the bass so heavy it popped the speaker off the wall,” admits Shields. “Instinctively, the engineer put his foot out to stop it hitting the ground and it broke his foot.”

sunray wrote:That's a great read, thanks. Lots of stuff in there I wasn't aware of. I think a biography of mbv could be pretty interesting, surprised no-one's attempted it.

Yeah, fantastic interview and such incredible stories behind those albums. It made me laugh that Kevin got a job herding cows for a while, then later got into psychedelics and started visualising cows. If there was a book, I'd certainly read it! Really looking forward to the new album...

I played both albums yesterday. Loveless sounds incredible. Just really massive. The low end is crazy. My pressing of Isn't Anything is really noisy in the right channel. However, they're sending out alternate versions of that album with every copy that you buy. The rumor is that it was a rejected version, but it lacks the offensive noise that the official one has, so I'm sticking with the alternate one.

My albums arrived yesterday, they do look gorgeous it must be said, won`t get to give then a listen - a proper listen - till the weekend I think, but the additional Isn`t anything I must admit to being puzzled by, absolutely no explanation whatsoever to date, very strange.

My copies of Loveless and mbv arrived today, and I'll give the former a good loud spin this evening. Didn't bother getting "Isn't Anything" in the end; it's a decent enough album, but I'm not fussed about owning it on vinyl.

(Yes, I love mbv, and I stand by that opinion 100%. Naysayers be damned; I think it's a bloody fantastic album )

simonkeeping wrote:Thanks Warmth, there’s some copies left so you’ll be okay.

I saw on Instagram that they are sending copies out. I only ordered last week so i’ll be a bit down the list bit i’ll keep you posted.

Simon: I finally placed my order for the book. I can't wait. I used to have a really solid collection of vintage fuzzes, but I wound up selling them and just keeping what I needed for my pedalboard. In any case, I will report back once I receive it.

A special edition of 'Isn't Anything' was hidden in some ordersMy Bloody Valentine recently released ‘all analog’ reissues of their ‘Isn’t Anything’ and ‘Loveless’ albums, with the band including a special surprise for certain lucky fans.An “alternative cut and pressing” of ‘Isn’t Anything’ was included in shipments of the record – but has now completely sold out, the band confirmed on Twitter. Check out the band’s post below.

clewsr wrote:I'm really, really late to the party on this thread. Are the vinyls still available? Where is best to buy them in the uk?

You have to buy them from the MBV website. They're not being distributed to stores. My understanding is that they're still available. People are already flipping them for high prices on Discogs. Also, the Isn't Anything alternate pressing is gone, so if you order now you won't receive one of those.

TheWarmth wrote:I played both albums yesterday. Loveless sounds incredible. Just really massive. The low end is crazy. My pressing of Isn't Anything is really noisy in the right channel. However, they're sending out alternate versions of that album with every copy that you buy. The rumor is that it was a rejected version, but it lacks the offensive noise that the official one has, so I'm sticking with the alternate one.

I also have pretty ugly noise on Isn`t Anything, last track on either side mainly, shame as the rest of it sounds phenomenal, pretty disappointing for a perfectionist like Shields to let this slip through especially after his remarks about pressing plants and quality control. Is this maybe one of the reasons the alternate cut was put in with the order, had a good few listens to both and I can`t tell much difference except the alternate one is pretty much flawless, Feed Me With Your Kiss sounds ridiculously good by the way, like a riot going on.

Not got round to listening to the Loveless one yet, waiting for the right time.